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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27806110">Serious Conversations</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eightpoundsofhair/pseuds/Eightpoundsofhair'>Eightpoundsofhair</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Owl House (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>3/3 of the blight children are queer, Coming Out, F/F, Good Sibling Emira Blight, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, some vaguely heavy themes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:29:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,312</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27806110</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eightpoundsofhair/pseuds/Eightpoundsofhair</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Emira was, by nature, not good at serious conversations. But when Amity starts coming home more bitter than usual she decides to try her hand at one. After all the hell she had put Amity through she might as well try to help her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amity Blight &amp; Edric Blight &amp; Emira Blight, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, ish - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>245</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Serious Conversations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Emira had always had a feeling. To which Edric had always laughed at her; ‘Takes one to know one’ he had always smirked, poking at her ribs while she swatted him away. And even when she always shot back the same taunt ‘So that would make you...?’ she always knew he could tell her heart wasn’t in it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, even when she had always thought, could feel it in a way, she hadn’t been expecting it now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was not uncommon for Amity to come home upset. She was a hard personality, something Emira could hardly blame her for, although it wasn’t exactly common for her to be so blunt about it. When she had met the two of them after school she had already been angry. Approached them with crossed arms and a flushed face, made only worse when they teased her for it at once. Walking home she was short tempered and bitter, more so than usual, and looked back and forth between the twins with increasingly mean scowls. She didn’t speak, didn’t do anything aside from glare at them, growing redder and redder in the face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira found herself sending Ed looks in response, an unspoken threat to tone it down. Because while it was certainly not uncommon for Amity to be upset after school, was actually rather uncommon for her to meet them after class in a good mood, this, the unexplainable, fiery anger, was certainly far from the norm. Emira wasn’t actually sure if she had ever seen Amity quite so angry outside of when her and Ed were being exceptionally bad. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It worried her. She didn’t like to admit it but she worried for Amity a lot. And <em>this</em>, a frustration this damn intense, was making her start to send Ed visual threats when he said anything at all. She was glad he listened, even if the little quip in his eyebrow, puffing of his lip, displayed clearly he didn’t understand why. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they arrived home Amity had shut herself in her room at once. That was nothing at all out of the ordinary, she did the same every day upon their return, but Emira still found herself listening closely to the intensity of her footsteps as she ascended the stairs, the force she used to close the door. She couldn’t tell if it really was different or if she was reading too strongly into things but she could have sworn there was just a slightest difference in the weight of her movements. Still, the second her door slammed shut above them Edric cut off her thoughts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s going on?” He insisted, drawing Emira’s attention with his whine, “Did something happen with her?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira frowned at him, pouting her own lip and shaking her head, “I’m not sure. She just seemed upset and I didn’t want to pester her,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smirked, quirking his eyebrows in a way she knew all too well. She rolled her eyes preemptively. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t want to upset baby sister,” he cooed, raising his voice wildly in pitch as he pulled his interlocked hands to his chest, kicking a leg up for good measure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira gave him a shove across the chest, one he quickly returned with a gentle little laugh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira smiled at him as she tried to listen to Amity’s footsteps upstairs, “She just seemed a little more serious today,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edric dropped the height of his smile and released his grip on Emira’s shoulders but still only retorted with a joking, “But she’s so much easier to tease that way!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira shoved him a bit harder before she took off down the hall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even despite Edric’s insistence that Amity was probably fine, she had always been like this to an extent and she </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>only fourteen, Emira found herself thinking about it for most of the evening. As she sat perched on Ed’s bed as they worked lazily on homework, he at his desk tossing answers her way, grumbling when she missed the queue and had none to give him, she found herself keeping her ears alert, waiting to hear something from Amity’s room just down the hall. As they were sat down to dinner, all of their outside emotions pushed down to be proper and well behaved as their parents spoke forced pleasantries at them, she found herself staring at Amity, watching carefully the far off gaze which settled in her eye when she was not the center of attention, the way she was mindlessly playing with her food. It was out of character, normally Amity was far more involved in the dinners, trying desperately to impress and outshine Edric and herself. And as they departed, dismissed with three mutual labels of ‘fine’, she found herself trying to catch up to her, catch her attention. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And even when the door was slammed loudly in her face at the attempt the desire to check in on her wouldn’t leave, instead grew stronger still as the night drew on. As Emira tried to settle herself into bed she found that she couldn’t stop herself from thinking about it. Couldn’t at all pull her mind away from it. With a sigh and a knowing that Amity would only grow all the more frustrated if she waited any longer Emira rose from her bed and made the short trip down to the end of the hall, giving a few short taps on the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At first she got no response and she grew discouraged at once, worried of upsetting her further and sure she would not get a response. She stepped back to leave, but just as she turned the muffled reply came, sleepy and dazed, from behind the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mom?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira frowned and turned back around, giving a gentle push to the door to let it lazily swing open, “No, it’s me. Can we chat?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity groaned and Emira could hear as she rolled over in her bed, a loud and exasperated combo, “I’m sleeping, Em,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira frowned, stepping further into the room to sit at the foot of her bed even when Amity buried her head under the blankets, “And I’ll be leaving soon if you would just talk for a second,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity groaned again, loud and heavy, but pulled her head out from under the covers nonetheless, “What?” She shot back harshly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira smiled loosely, old habits die hard, before she stifled the expression, memory of her reasoning fresh on her mind. Instead she softened her expression as best she could, lowered her voice, and spoke. It didn’t quite feel right, she was not well versed in serious conversations, but she hoped it would convince Amity all the same. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?” She asked slowly, watching Amity, waiting for any shift in her glare, “You seem more,” she hesitated, “frustrated than usual,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity only returned the question with a dead stare, “What do you want?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira frowned, shaking her head and raising her hands, “Nothing,” she insisted, trying her best to seem sincere, not something she was particularly skilled at, “No funny business I promise. I’m just,” she paused, the pull of her emotions catching back up with her, leading her to fumble over her words, “I’m worried about you. I love you,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity remained stagnant in her expression, replying bluntly in a low voice a beat later, “Are you sick?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>No</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Emira groaned, ignoring how whined and childish the word fell out of her lips, this was not going how she wanted it to, “I mean it,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity only rolled her eyes, crossing her arms as Emira whined at the foot of her bed, “I’m <em>fine</em>,” she insisted, the word hard and over enunciated and Emira didn’t believe it for a second, “You can leave now. I’m tired,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira wanted to argue but knew it would be no use. She stood with a sigh and started for the door, only pausing to gently speak a parting message, “I know I give you a lot of grief but I’m always there if you want to talk. No judgment and no funny business,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“<em>Okay</em>, Emira,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Love you,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira was midway through closing the door when she got the muffled reply, “Love you, too,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With time Amity became more and more bitter and with time Emira grew more and more worried it had something to do with them, her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Quick to ditch and eager to be away from classes it was not uncommon for Emira and Edric to watch as Amity left the school and, in turn, it was not uncommon for Emira to catch the quick shift in her emotions as it occurred. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>For the first time in a long while, probably since she was still in the late stages of the baby classes, Amity was leaving class smiling. A faint little flush on her face, a gentle grin on her cheeks, and a friend on either side. But that lighthearted pleasure always fell; dropped in an instant when she caught eyes with Emira. With their shared glances her smile always fell into that new, menacing frown and she would pull away from whoever she had been speaking to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira couldn’t figure out what it was that she could have done. Sure her and Ed weren’t always the nicest siblings, the library incident often was the first thing that came to her mind, but she didn’t think it was enough to warrant <em>this</em>. Amity’s total avoidance of her. Inconsolable anger at her very presence. She was sure it didn’t help that Edric, always the less emotionally intuitive between them, continued to prod at her through her fits. Using them as fuel to get her angrier. By then even Emira’s looks weren’t working. He was bored and deliberately avoiding her eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She always wanted to say something. Catch her as they entered the house, shoving Edric off before he could insert himself, before Amity could slip away into her room, before their parents were home to listen, but Emira could never find the way to the words. As much as she tried she never had been very good at serious conversations. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edric brought it up one evening, a few weeks later during which Emira had been consistently absorbed in Amity’s emotions, continually asking him what he thought was wrong, consistently, clearly thinking about it. It didn’t take long for him to say something; addressing it as they sat, the two of them mutually avoiding doing homework, in his room. With a sudden dropping of his scroll he had turned to look at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are <em>you</em> okay?” He asked, short and sweet as ever, easily picking up a conversation they had worked out of several hours ago. Still, even when Emira knew at once what he was speaking of, in reference to, she didn’t understand what he meant. This had nothing to do with her. It was about <em>Amity</em>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean am <em>I</em> okay? I’m just wondering if you’ve noticed to,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked at her, a little unbelieving smile gracing his lips, and when Emira did not elaborate after a short beat he rolled his eyes, “You’ve been a little obsessed, Em,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira scoffed, hoping he wouldn’t notice how she got a bit red in the face when she realized just how right he was, knowing all the same he certainly did and would probably say something, “I’m just worried about her,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Something you have never been much of before,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have too!” Emira snapped at him, turning her gaze away from him to instead look pointedly across the room. She knew, too, that he would know her intentions at once, would be rolling his eyes at her refusal to look at him, but she decided she didn’t care, “I never let you go too far,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let me?” Edric insisted, his voice low and accusatory, “It was your idea half of the time,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“More than half but,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edric laughed, the sudden pointed quality of his voice dropping off all at once in light of the surprised sound, “You’re proving <em>my</em> point,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira only rolled her eyes, “Whatever,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could tell he was staring at her, could feel his eyes on her skin, but she kept her gaze firmly away from him. She didn’t want him boasting his correctness. Didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not what I mean and you know it,” Edric sang when Emira did not look his way, his voice high and mocking. Emira huffed a breath, annoyed at him for goading her own but more annoyed at herself for falling for it. She raised her gaze to meet his, if only to send his smiling face a glare. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know it, actually,” she retorted bitterly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was Ed’s turn to roll his eyes. And even when he rose from his spot at his desk to sit on the bed next to her he did no more than look at her expectantly. Emira turned away from him again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“<em>Em</em>,” he groaned as she did, poking at her hips until she had to face him again to swat him away. But even when she turned to do no more than snarl at him the serious expression which rested on his face caused her to still. It wasn’t what she had been expecting; his face totally void of smug cockiness, playful satisfaction, it was jarring. Emira had never been good at serious conversations, </span>
  <em>
    <span>especially </span>
  </em>
  <span>with Edric, “Just,” he groaned, the word frustrated and short, “What’s going on?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira sighed, a budding blossom of nerves growing in the hollows of her chest, but even when she lowered her gaze to anxiously look towards her hands she found herself speaking. Like a rush, a quell, she had to talk about it. She couldn’t bear the silent, lonely wondering anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m worried we did something to her that actually upset her this time,” she spoke, her words falling out slow, careful, as she herself tried to place them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could see Edric shifting in his spot as she spoke, a nervous adjustment of his weight, and when she raised her gaze to look into his face his eyebrows were taught with concern, “Like what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira shook her head, “The library maybe? I don’t know,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edric frowned, “Oh,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira sighed heavily beside him, the unpleasant feeling which had been hiding just behind the corner for ages now releasing all at once. She felt compressed, her chest squeezed tight with pressure. Heavy and compact. Guilty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If Edric thought then surely-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She just,” Emira interrupted her own thoughts, frustration pooling in the sound of her voice, “She’s smiling again, like she will be as she leaves class, but the second she sees us she shuts down,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edric frowned at her, an anxious pout laying on his lip, “Maybe it’s someone at school,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira shook her head biting back the want to cry, “Maybe, but,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sighed heavily, all she could do to bite back the bitter guilt which overwhelmed her. They shouldn’t have teased her. They went too far. They should have been nicer. <em>She</em> should have known better.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edric reached out to grab one of her hands, pulling Emira’s thoughts away from her guilt, urging the tears out of her eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Unless?” he suggested when Emira pulled her eyes up to look at him, the word high and gaudy and ridiculous. His face, too, was pulled in a matching expression and while she loathed him for it, this silly attempt to pull her away from the feelings she felt she so justly deserved, she had to bite back a smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She raised an eyebrow at him nonetheless, “Unless?” she echoed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s,” Edric emphasized, letting the sentence fall short, knowing Emira would know what he implied. Although the absurd way he bounced his eyebrows up and down certainly helped with that effort. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira laughed at the display, raising a hand to push away at him, “Well she <em>is</em> but I don’t think,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No?” Edric asked, the bit dropped for him to instead look at her with gentle curiosity. Emira smiled at the innocent look. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not yet,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edric laughed, the sound bouncy and light, and the familiar little jingle lightened the weight which had sat in Emira’s chest, “Wanna bet on it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira rolled her eyes, ignoring the fact that she was smiling and unable to stop, “Not particularly but I know you won’t let it go until I say yes,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just don’t want to admit I’m right about something for once,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’ll be the day,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pair laughed for a moment, normal and right, a sound Emira slipped into so regularly, so comfortably, but, as the moment faded, so too did the ease of the sound. Instead, their matching laughs, Emira always wondered if they had always been that way or if they had been molded into one with time, faded in equal pace. The sincerity floating away to leave the sound mutually hollow. Emira frowned just as Edric’s laugh fell off instead into a heavy sigh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve noticed it too,” he murmured, turning to catch Emira’s eyes as she herself raised her gaze to look at him, “I just didn’t know what to say to her,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira nodded, the frown solidifying itself on her face, bringing the guilt back with it, “I’ve tried but she isn’t really,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She let the sentence fall off. Not sure what she was saying, how to say it, and knowing well it wouldn’t matter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edric nodded, “I figured she wouldn’t be. She usually isn’t,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira frowned again, hating how the expression lowered the tone of her voice, drawing it hard, “Yeah,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edric was silent for a moment, simply sitting, Emira could feel, looking at her. Yet when she avoided his eyes, deliberately and not subtly, he groaned theatrically, falling back onto his bed with a dramatic sigh, “Well as much as I hate the idea we’ll just have to be gentle to her,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira smiled loosely, chest lightening at the childish display, clearly put on just to try and cheer her up, “Glad you agree with me for once,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Edric smiled at her in response, gentle and kind, and even when he swung himself upright just to shove at her shoulders his expression didn’t change. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’ll talk to you about it eventually. She likes you,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was meant to be reassuring but Emira frowned in response, her heart dropping suddenly, “She likes you too,” she insisted, the words coming out tense and desperate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sat up a little higher, a sad little smile resting patiently on his face as he balled a fist to gently punch her again, “I know that, Em,” he insisted, the words steady and confident, “But youre better with this kind of thing. She’s smart, she knows that,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira shook her head, she wasn’t so sure of that herself, she had always struggled with serious conversations, but she found herself smiling all the same as he rose to his feet, heading to the door with a wink, “I’m grabbing snacks. Movie when I get back?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, even when all of it had been leading up to it, the signs were there, even when Emira had always had a feeling, she wasn’t expecting it when it came.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As it happened it was late in the evening on a Saturday. Late enough that Emira had been asleep for hours. Late enough that the knock on her door was very unwelcome. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She assumed at first it was Ed, always one for a late night shenanigan, but when she groaned and gave a whined, “Not in the mood now, Ed,” all she got in response was a timid little, decidedly un-Ed, sniffle. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira shot up in her bed, “Amity?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could hear a quick shift in weight happening outside of her door, the moving of a foot, just barely predeceasing Amity’s weak voice. She had been crying, it was transparently obvious from the first sound she let out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” she wavered outside of the door, voice broken and small like Emira hadn’t heard in it years. A quick wave of dread, black and heavy, overtook her lungs before Amity could speak again, “It’s stupid and I shouldn’t have woken you up,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira was hopping out of bed before she could even tell she was moving, tossing the blanket off of her as those shy little footsteps started away. Still, even when she had started away, as Emira tossed opened the door Amity turned back to look at her. Her face was shiny and red like Emira hadn’t seen since she was a little girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira’s heart burned, heavy and aching in her chest, and she swung the door open a little wider with a gentle smile, “Coming?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity bit her lip with a muffled little whine but nodded all the same, taking the first slow steps to Emira’s room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira wanted to reach for her, as she crossed the threshold into her room, whimpering and sniffling gently as she held her hands to her face, but found herself unable to go through with the gesture. Instead she gently closed the door behind them and listened as Amity stalled in the open expanse of her room. Emira sighed as she turned, turning to find her hunched over and with her arms crossed. It was clear she didn’t know where to put herself, was trying to hide in upon herself, and seeing her so upset, so uneasy, made Emira’s heart beat in her ears, loud and hot and painful. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She still wasn’t quite sure what this was about, was still positively worried she had done something to upset Amity, but as much as she wanted to worry about it she knew she couldn’t; not now when she was coming to her upset and crying in the middle of the night. Maybe it was her, maybe it wasn’t. Either way Emira was gonna fix it. Even if she wasn’t sure how. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gently, Emira approached her, finally crossing the room to bring gentle fingers to her shoulders, guiding her softly to her bed at the end of the room. Amity let her, following easily and leaning into Emira’s touch. Emira was surprised by how much the gesture stung; she had to blink away the sudden coming of tears as she settled them both down on the bed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You okay?” Emira asked foolishly once they had sat, the words coming out sincerely even when they sat stupid and pointless in the air. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity let out a high humph in response, a whined and tired sound, although one, luckily Emira thought, relatively undisturbed by tears.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” she spoke out into the air, the word gentle if vaguely forced, refusing to meet Emira’s eye. Still, Emira, no longer trusting her mouth to say anything meaningful, unsure of what at all she could say, simply sat and waited, content to let Amity take the lead. Eventually she did, humphing again before she opened her mouth. Yet even still, even when she moved clearly to speak no words came out. Instead all she did was breathe heavily and let her mouth fall closed, a sad expression falling quickly back upon her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sudden crumbling of her face, the fall of her eyebrows, the glossing of her eyes made Emira’s heart sink heavier, a dull panic accompanying the feeling as a sudden need to rush to do something, say something, anything to make it better, overpowered her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I,” she started, a muddied apology sitting on her lip before she changed her mind. That was pointless, she wanted to <em>help</em>, actually. An apology wasn’t going to get here there, “Is it me?” she found herself asking instead, the words fumbling and falling out of her mouth before she could realize that that was worse than an apology. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, Amity didn’t give her time to regret the words, simply raised her gaze. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” She asked, the word a lot more confident than Emira would have expected, “No, Em,” she continued, reaching out to grab one of Emira’s hands, “It’s-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But she cut herself off, her words falling off her lips as they came, falling into nothing as she slowly shut her mouth, eyebrows furrowed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ve just been-” Emira found herself saying, that selfish little worry again overpowering the more pressing need to comfort and help. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not,” Amity insisted, her words coming out steady and sure of themselves. Yet as she opened her mouth again, turned to look Emira in the eye, the strength of her resolve faltered. Her eyebrows fell, her lip puffed slightly forward. She took a long breath after and with it her expression shifted. The upset of her features sharpened, her eyebrows growing taught, her frown growing cold, and she stood suddenly, speaking with a forced bitter tone, “It’s stupid,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira caught her arm as she stood, reaching for it quickly to stop Amity from leaving, and gave her a little tug, encouraging her to sit again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not,” she spoke all the while, doing her best to keep her own words steady as she gently worked Amity back onto her bed with a gentle squeeze of her arm, “I promise I won’t think it’s dumb,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity stared at her for a moment, the anger rolling off of her face in long waves, replaced by that same pitiful little look. It broke Emira’s heart all over again, having to watch as her eyes grew glossy, her lip quivered, and with how bitter it stung it was a miracle that Amity was the first to cry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Slowly she fell into gentle little tears, pulling her hands up to hide her face as she whimpered our weak little sobs, gentle and defeated. Emira scooted forward to carefully collect her, grab her back and lean her head into her chest, pulling her close into a gentle hug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she pulled her into her, tucked her head into the crook of her neck so she could surround her, protect her from things she knew she couldn’t actually protect her from, Emira found herself fighting back her own tears with everything in her. Seeing Amity like this, sobbing and so wholeheartedly upset, vulnerable and shaky, was unbearable. Pulled streaks of throbbing hot pain across her chest, miserable and stinging. But even when the feeling destroyed her, ravaged her heart and left her a little more than teary, she pushed back her own upset as much as she could. Amity came to her for comfort. It wasn’t her turn to be upset. It was the least Emira could do, considering she hadn’t been able to prevent the heartache in the first place. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She held Amity a little tighter, breathing heavily as her weak tears continued, not wanting to smother her but needing the touch herself to keep her composure. Amity whined at the sensation, leaning a bit further into the hug herself, and Emira took a long sigh, battling back her tears as she rocked them slowly back and forth, drawing wide circles on Amity’s back with the palms of her hands. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira loathed to feel when Amity abruptly pulled away from her, wanted frantically to comfort her, comfort herself, in the gesture again, but as she moved she was speaking again, stuttering through her tears, and Emira found herself sitting straight with attention. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want to tell you,” Amity choked through her sobs, the words shaky and uneasy, “I’m just so scared,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Scared?” Emira found herself echoing in an instant, her heart dropping into her feet at the words, “Is something wrong?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity shook her head at once, a gasped response falling loosely from her lips, “No. I’m just-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But she cut herself off. Her lips snapping closed in an instant. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amity,” was all Emira could whine in response, reaching out again towards her, finally unable to fight the onslaught of her own shaky tears. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity frowned at her and let herself be swallowed back into a hug. Her tears had calmed a bit from that last, less gasping and desperate, more gentle and broken, but it did little to comfort Emira. Even when she had stopped the onslaught of her own tears as fast as she could, hearing her like this, so dreadfully upset, still stung and burned. She wanted to hide her away, hold her close to her, forever. Comfort and soothe all of the hurt she had ever felt. And even when she knew she couldn’t she decided that, for now, she could try. Simply breathe, run her hands through Amity’s hair, cradle her head, as she rocked the both of them back and forth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And even when at first Amity continued the weak pursuit of tears, whining and whispering into the gesture, slowly it began to work. The sobs turned to sniffles, turned to nothing aside from tired breathing. It was only then, when Amity sat calmed in her arms, when Emira spoke again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Whatever it is you can tell me,” she whispered, as level headed and comforting as she could manage, gently pulling away to run a thumb across the curve of Amity’s cheeks, wiping a bit of that wetness away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity only frowned at her, “I want to,” she whined, “I just don’t know how to say it,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira sighed despite herself and tucked a stray piece of hair behind Amity’s ear, “It’s alright. You can take your time,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just,” Amity forced, the words sharp and empty. Cut off as quick as they had come.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira tried her best to smile at her, pulled a hand down to rub at her upper arms, “It’s okay,” she reassured, “You can take as long as you need. Just breathe for a second,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity nodded at her in response, closing her eyes and taking a long, heavy breath. Emira smiled at her, continuing to hold steady onto her arms, “Good,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity took a few more long breaths, heavy and weighty, and while, when she opened her eyes, she didn’t look entirely refreshed Emira thought she looked a bit less panicked. Just sad. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” she spoke weakly, pulling one of her arms away to wipe at her cheeks on her own. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira smiled, even when her heart ached numbly, “Of course, Amity,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity nodded, taking another long breath as she finished wiping her face, “Okay,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But, even when Emira waited, nothing more came. Amity simply shut her eyes tightly, tense. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled at the sight despite herself, the scrunching of her nose when she sat like that undeniably charming, “Okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity’s eyes shot open and she sighed dramatically, rushing forward to push Emira on the shoulders, “Shut up,” she groaned but Emira couldn’t help but smile boldly. Amity was smiling too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, the feeling didn’t last. Almost as soon as that smile had arrived it again dropped, Amity’s expression turning grave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You remember Luz?” She asked abruptly, turning to look Emira in the eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira narrowed her eyes, off put by the question, not at all what she had been expecting, “Yes,” she replied lowly, an implied question hanging onto the word as she raised an eyebrow at Amity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity merely flushed in response, quickly averting her gaze as her skin glazed over in a gentle pink. It would have been cute had she not also suddenly grown teary again, her eyes glossing over just as her skin grew pink. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-“ she started, the word, again, coming out distraught, broken, “She-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And that sense of knowing came back at once. That sneaking little suspicion Emira had had for years flooding to the front of her mind. Her eyes grew wide in an instant, her heart rate spiked. <em>Of course</em>. Still, as she looked into Amity’s eyes she let the feeling go. Amity would tell her. They would get there. She should check it wasn’t anything else first. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She didn’t upset you did she?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Amity shot back in an instant, the word quick and short and, luckily, the tears in Amity’s eyes were blinked away as she groaned, “This isn’t working,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira chuckled, “You wanna start over?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity nodded and the shift in her demeanor was sudden and stark. The annoyance fell from her features all at once, bubbling indiscriminately down into anxiety and upset. Emira almost wished she hadn’t said anything at the sight of it but Amity sighed heavily before she could truly think it, opening her mouth to let out a soft yet steady statement. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like her,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira raised her gaze quickly, trying to catch Amity’s eyes which were staring, fixed and hardly focused straight ahead of her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luz?” She asked carefully, clarifying even where she knew she didn’t need to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity swallowed, balling her fists at her sides as she nodded briefly, “Yeah,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira found herself slowing instinctively, wanting to sit in the silence for a moment, reflect. Even when she had thought, had been so sure, even just a moment ago, it was a rather surprising thing to have confirmed. But even when her brain stilled, the floodgates desperate to open, she knew now wasn’t the time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She grabbed one of Amity’s hands, “Okay,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was at that that Amity’s gaze finally shifted. She turned to face Emira, taking a wavering look down at their interlocked hands before she finally met her eyes. They were wide and vaguely teary when she did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” she insisted, the sound low and desperate and </span>
  <em>
    <span>sad</span>
  </em>
  <span>, “I <em>like</em> her,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The tone of her voice was heartbreaking. Laced with emotion, desolate and shaken, and it stung at Emira’s chest. With her being as broken as she was, the insistence of her repetition, it was transparently clear what the response she had been expecting was. Emira took Amity’s other hand and squeezed their, now duly interlocked fists, all together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you might,” Emira lowly whispered, trying to level her voice, soothe as well as she could, “I-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Amity interrupted, the word arriving suddenly, littered heavily with the sound of tears, broken and wavering, just beating the arrival of the real ones.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sight woke Emira up at once. She really was terrible at serious conversations.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” She retorted quickly, the word coming out louder than she had meant it to in her panic to fix her terrible fumble, “That’s not what I meant,” she continued, rushing to lift her hands from Amity’s lap to her face, wiping the corners of her eyes, “I’m sure-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You knew?” Amity interrupted again, leaning away from the touch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira sighed, fighting back her own tears in the face of that shriveled little expression, “Amity,” she crooned, reaching out to rub another soft circle onto the peaks of her cheeks, all she knew how to do in the moment, “I know you so well I’m sure Luz-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Amity murmured, the sound muffled by the sound of her tears, “Mom and dad,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira found herself coming to a stark halt at once. Oh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity broke into a loose sob.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Folded over on herself as she was it was easy for Emira to pull her into a gentle hug, holding her loose around the shoulders and rubbing small patterns on her back, rocking her as she rushed through sentences, trying, desperately, to fix the mess she had accidentally caused. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I promise they don’t know,” she whispered, speaking as low and steadily as she could when she herself was so close to tears, “It’s not a thought that’s ever crossed their minds,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not this,” Emira insisted, pulling Amity a little tighter into her for a short moment, “I swear it,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity whimpered but Emira could hear that the intensity of her tears, the real weight of them, had faded, “How do you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira swallowed, rocking Amity in a gentle rhythm, “They have very rigid views of the world. Obviously that isn’t,” she paused, trying to find the right way to words this, a way which wouldn’t upset further, “good,” she eventually decided on, frowning when she changed her mind, “for this but it also means they have never thought that it would be a possibility,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity only whined at her in response, leaning further into the hug, “What if they find out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They won’t,” Emira insisted, “I won’t let them,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity shook her head but gave a gentle laugh, pulling slightly out of Emira’s embrace to look at her. The loose smile on her face, watered down by her shiny, pink cheeks, but a smile all the same, made Emira’s chest lighten, “You have gotten very good at keeping things from them,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Exactly,” Emira joked back, rubbing another circle into the small of Amity’s back, “I’ve got experience. They’ve never found out about me or Ed,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity pulled back from her entirely, cocking an eyebrow, “You or Ed?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira found herself laughing, a little wave of fluttering surprise crossing her chest, “You didn’t know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity’s eyes widened and she stifled a gentle laugh, “No,” she murmured, her eyes rolling in thought, “I-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira smiled when Amity cut herself off, waiting until she locked their eyes once again to speak, “Surprise?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amity gave her a light shove on the shoulder, rolling her eyes, “Well I wouldn’t have been so nervous if I’d have known!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira laughed, leaning forward to flick Amity on the nose, “Sorry you never learned how to read a room,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emira had never been good at serious conversations. She did better with teases and pranks; wasn’t well suited for comforts or genuine discussions. But she was glad, even despite what Emira herself would have done in her shoes, that Amity had trusted in her ability to handle one. Even if it meant she lost her, rather forced, bet with Edric. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because even when it hadn’t gone perfect Amity seemed lighter now. With her friends, in the glimpses Emira caught as she left class for the day, and with them too. She was smiling without fear. The first time in far too long. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe Emira wasn’t half as bad at serious conversations as she had thought.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I just really like the twins, okay? Also! I’ve seen a lot of headcanons that same-sex relationships would be very normal on the boiling isles which I feel like makes a lot more sense but I am a sucker for some angst. In any case I hope you guys like this! It’s my first time writing for this fandom but if you guys want I’d love to write some more! Probably some Emira/Viney because I am absolutely starving for more content centered on the two of them and I will take matters into my own hands if I must<br/>In any case I appreciate your reading this! Please please PLEASE leave me a comment. And have an incredible day!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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